Psst!!, Buddy, Want a Credit Card?

Jack Layton’s promise (if he is elected Prime Minister) to go after the high credit card charges that the financial folks charge us struck a chord with me. I am not referring to the high interest charges that one pays on an unpaid card balance, although Jack says he wants limits on that as well. Nor am I referring to the charge for getting some real paper money from a machine that belongs to some entrepreneur or a bank other than your own. That’s fair game for one’s lack of planning.

I am unsure if Jack wants to limit the percentage that the credit card owners charge merchants (who pass that charge on to us) on each transaction or if he even plans to stop the practice of card companies forcing retailers to accept all cards in their portfolio. However, any swipe he can take at the Big Banks will seem like sweet revenge to me.

Four months ago, persons unknown to me used my credit card number to buy something at an Ultramar gas station in Richfield PQ. On the same day, sales of $99.20, $99.70 and $100.00 were charged to my card. Having never been there and my card always in my wallet, I called my friendly ScotiaBank Visa folks to complain. To their credit, they did not take long to agree that something was amiss. They advised me to destroy my old card, sign an affidavit and await a new card. The fraud division would look after this for me.

The bank does me the service of paying my card balance automatically from my account each month, so they took my money for the Ultramar theft from my account. This was fine as the customer service agent said they would reverse the charges.

But she did not say when. Three months after the theft, the bank, and I presume Ultramar and the thief, still have my money. I called the hotline again but the only answer I could get about what had happened was that the Fraud Division was still investigating. Sorry, but you have my money and you should not have it!

Asking what I could possibly have done wrong to get my card (identity) stolen, when I never use that card on the internet or for remote transactions, they had no answer. That I had never used the card at an Ultramar station anywhere ruled out my leaving a card number in their hands. Would they ever tell me what happened? Apparently not.

As best as I can discern, only the bank has that number. They do send my statements out to me via Canada Post, so someone there may have peeked at my letter and noted the number on my statement. I have ruled out my wife as my card limit is too low to interest her. So how did someone get my card number?

You can see how this might rankle a person enough to cause them to vote NDP, but it gets better.

When I related my tale of woe to a friend, he said Ultramar? Richfield, PQ? ScotiaBank Visa? A month before my loss, his card had been used at the same station, although only for one transaction. How many other people have been caught up in this scam?

It is almost enough to make a person revert to using paper money, but then I would be paying that hidden credit card surcharge that is built into the price of goods at every store that accepts credit cards every time I buy something. I’ve given The Bank until October 13 to refund my money. If they have not met the deadline, I’m voting NDP!